Chelsea 2 West Brom 2: Baggies fume as Hazard saves Mourinho's home record with controversial penalty deep into injury time

Maybe Jose Mourinho is right. Perhaps there is no such thing as a curse on Chelsea in November. For Saturday, they were as lucky as you can be.

For the past three seasons, the west London club have capitulated in November, effectively surrendering their title hopes. This time, they avoided their second successive defeat of the month — but only with a huge slice of fortune.

Flat and uninspired for long periods, they salvaged a point three-and-a-half minutes into four minutes of time added on with a dubious penalty.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch the managers' reaction to Chelsea's penalty

Late: Eden Hazard's penalty deep into injury time rescued a point for Chelsea against West Brom

Anger: West Brom were furious with referee Andre Marriner after the controversial penalty award

Soft: Ramires went down under the challenge of Steven Reid, and referee Marriner pointed to the spot

Incensed: West Brom surrounded the referee after the controversial decision cost them victory

Calm: Hazard slots home the penalty won by Ramires in the dying stages

Slotted: The Belgian sent West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill the wrong way with the spot-kick

Straight face: Jose Mourinho shows no reaction to Chelsea's goal after it saved his unbeaten home record

West Bromwich Albion had done the hard
yards. They had defended manfully and then overcome a dreadful goal
conceded just before half-time to come back to take a 2-1 lead. They had
even wasted excellent chances to go 3-1 up, with Chris Brunt shooting
over on 91 minutes when Victor Anichebe was in a great position to
score.

Even then, with more than 93 minutes
on the clock, Goran Popov rushed to control a ball deep inside Chelsea’s
half. He kept the ball in play and needed only to head for the corner
flag for Mourinho to experience his first defeat at Stamford Bridge in
the Premier League.

It would have been a seminal moment.
Instead, Popov tried a cross, which was intercepted, Chelsea broke and
Ramires carried the ball into the penalty area. As the Brazilian ran out
of options, he stumbled, ran into Steven Reid and fell down, appealing
for a decision.

For a moment it appeared justice would
be done, as referee Andre Marriner did nothing. But then came the
fateful whistle. Eden Hazard dispatched the penalty with 20 seconds left
on the clock, at least providing a degree of redemption for his
problematic weekend jaunt to Lille.

But there were no redeeming features
for West Bromwich. ‘I’m flabbergasted at the decision,’ said Albion boss
Steve Clarke. ‘I can’t believe he [Marriner] gave it. I’ve been in the
game a long time and I knew he [Ramires] was already on the way down
before anyone was near him. The referee has to be 100 per cent sure. How
he can be 100 per cent sure is beyond me.’

Lead: All was going well for Chelsea when Samuel Eto'o put them ahead just before half-time

Opener: Cameroon striker Eto'o celebrates his goal that gave Chelsea the lead at Stamford Bridge

Mourinho had condemned diving in his
pre-match press conference and said the Premier League should use video
replays to shame players. Did Ramires stumble or dive? Whatever, he
appealed as he went down.

‘You can put a label on it if you want,’ said
Clarke, ‘but the onus is on the referee to make the right decision. It
should have been a fantastic result for us, but it’s just a good result
in the end.’

For Mourinho, it was a penalty. ‘It
came at a moment when it’s difficult for the team that is winning to
accept, but this one was a penalty,’ he said. ‘From the bench, I don’t
know. But on the screen, no doubts.’

However, Mourinho had his own battles
to fight. Albion’s second goal came from a move that had started with
what looked like a foul by Stephane Sessegnon on Branislav Ivanovic.
‘It’s a free-kick just in front of fourth official,’ said the Chelsea
manager. ‘It’s a big mistake from the referee.’

And he had his team to defend,
declaring himself: ‘Absolutely satisfied. The attitude in the first half
was absolutely the correct one: be patient, wait, difficult to break a
wall, wait for a mistake. After their second goal our reacton could be,
“Die” or “Fight for life”. And the team fought for life.’

Shock: West Brom striker Shane Long (right) sent his team-mates into raptures by equalising on the hour

Jubilation: Long celebrates West Brom's first goal with Claudio Yacob (right) and Gareth McAuley

It is true that Willian and Demba Ba
had chances to equalise before the penalty and that Mourinho went to a
now-familiar back three in search of the goal, even summoning the
out-of-favour Juan Mata from the bench. Eventually, he had his reward.

But the first half was a turgid affair
and Chelsea had managed to create hardly anything — a superb Oscar
free-kick apart, which Boaz Myhill tipped over — until Hazard cut inside
and forced a save from Myhill. From the deflection, Liam Ridgewell
dallied horrendously, allowing Samuel Eto’o to charge in and thump the
rebound home on the stroke of half-time.

Yet West Bromwich responded better,
with Shane Long forcing a great save from Petr Cech on 57 minutes. Then,
from Morgan Amalfitano’s corner on 61 minutes, Gareth McAuley powered a
header which Cech parried. Frank Lampard and John Terry both stood
uncharacteristically still as Long leapt, hungrier to win the ball, and
headed in from close range.

Flashpoint: West Brom's Chris Brunt has stern words with Hazard afte a free-kick

West Bromwich were ahead seven minutes
later. Though Sessegnon had appeared to foul Ivanovic, he then fed
Ridgwell, who turned the full-back smartly to find Sessegnon again, who
stepped inside Terry to shoot home, with Cech seemingly wrong-footed.

Myhill would be forced to make a save
from Ivanovic on 75 minutes and there were those late chances for Ba
and Willian. But Chelsea were faltering, their cohesion lost and their
creativity in question.

It might have ended luckily in the end, but they have not yet done enough to banish the idea of that November curse.

Love is in the air: Jose Mourinho (left) was reunited with former No 2 Steve Clarke

Respect: Chelsea pensioners join the team in a minute's silence before kick-off for Rememberance